Complications following surgical procedures pose significant risks to pediatric patients. Detecting complications after an operation can pose a challenge due to heavy reliance on symptom reports from children and their caregivers. Children may struggle to effectively convey their symptoms, leading to delayed recognition of post-operative complications. A new article published in Science Advances may show a promising solution.
Hassan Ghomrawi, Ph.D., MPH, associate professor and vice chair for research and innovation in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has begun researching and looking for ways to detect post-operative complications earlier. He is co-leading a multi-institutional team that sees wearable devices as the future of monitoring pediatric patients following surgical procedures.
Consumer wearables such as Fitbits could identify complications in children before caregivers recognize them. Swifter recognition leads to earlier treatment and overall better outcomes for pediatric patients. Ghomrawi stated, “We demonstrated that data from a consumer wearable, the Fitbit, can predict a complication with high reliability and accuracy before it happens.”
According to the study published by Science Advances, 103 children were provided with Fitbit devices following an appendectomy, a standard surgical procedure with an opportunity for complications. Instead of using automated metrics provided by the device, such as heart rate and activity, the scientists trained the device’s algorithm using wearable-data- based circadian rhythms.
The study found that these altered circadian rhythms were sensitive to detecting complications in children. Scientists could predict surgical complications around three days before a formal diagnosis. The research conducted in the study is a part of a four-year project. Next, researchers plan to develop a real-time approach that will collect and analyze data automatically and notify the care teams of potential complications.
“Consumer wearables are continuously evolving and may provide hospital-level monitoring of patients in the comfort of their homes after discharge,” Ghomrawi stated. “This level of monitoring will result in better patient outcomes, and may result in lower costs, and thus should be of interest to health systems and insurance companies,” he added.